The Black Hawk War Or

Determined to resist the growing presence of Anglo settlers on traditional tribal lands, the Sauk warrior Black Hawk is drawn into war with the United States. Called Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak. How can the answer be improved? Wisconsin soldiers who served in the Black Hawk War (1832) Journal, summer 1834, of Rev. Cutting Marsh, during a visit to the Sauk and Fox Indians: One-Eyed Decorah relates how he helped Black Hawk surrender. Wisconsin soldiers who served in the Winnebago War (1827) A woman describes her fears during the Black Hawk War, 1832.

1. Black Hawk War Map
2. The Black Hawk War Original

The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos, known as the 'British Band', crossed the Mississippi River, into the U.S. state of Illinois, from Iowa Indian Territory in April 1832. Black Hawk's motives were ambiguous, but he was apparently hoping to avoid bloodshed while resettling on tribal land that had been ceded to the United States in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis.

U.S. officials, convinced that the British Band was hostile, mobilized a frontier militia and opened fire on a delegation from the Native Americans on May 14, 1832. Black Hawk responded by successfully attacking the militia at the Battle of Stillman's Run. He led his band to a secure location in what is now southern Wisconsin and was pursued by U.S. forces. Meanwhile, other Native Americans conducted raids against forts and settlements largely unprotected with the absence of U.S. troops. Some Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi warriors with grievances against European-Americans took part in these raids, although most tribe members tried to avoid the conflict. The Menominee and Dakota tribes, already at odds with the Sauks and Meskwakis, supported the U.S.

Commanded by General Henry Atkinson, the U.S. troops tracked the British Band. Militia under Colonel Henry Dodge caught up with the British Band on July 21 and defeated them at the Battle of Wisconsin Heights. Black Hawk's band was weakened by hunger, death, and desertion and many native survivors retreated towards the Mississippi. On August 2, U.S. soldiers attacked the remnants of the British Band at the Battle of Bad Axe, killing many or capturing most who remained alive. Black Hawk and other leaders escaped, but later surrendered and were imprisoned for a year.

The Black Hawk War gave the young captain Abraham Lincoln his brief military service, although he never participated in a battle.^[4] Other participants who later became famous included Winfield Scott, Zachary Taylor, and Jefferson Davis. The war gave impetus to the U.S. policy of Indian removal, in which Native American tribes were pressured to sell their lands and move west of the Mississippi River and stay there.

• 1Background
• 9Final campaign
• 10Aftermath
• 13References

Background[edit]

In the 18th century, the Sauk and Meskwaki (or Fox) Native American tribes lived along the Mississippi River in what are now the U.S. states of Illinois and Iowa. The two tribes had become closely connected after having been displaced from the Great Lakes region in conflicts with New France and other Native American tribes, particularly after the so-called Fox Wars ended in the 1730s.^[5] By the time of the Black Hawk War, the population of the two tribes was about 6,000 people.^[6]

Disputed treaty[edit]

As the United States expanded westward in the early 19th century, government officials sought to buy as much Native American land as possible. In 1804, territorial governorWilliam Henry Harrison negotiated a treaty in St. Louis in which a group of Sauk and Meskwaki leaders supposedly sold their lands east of the Mississippi for more than $2,200, in goods and annual payments of $1,000 in goods. The treaty became controversial because the Native leaders had not been authorized by their tribal councils to cede lands. Historian Robert Owens argued that the chiefs probably did not intend to give up ownership of the land, and that they would not have sold so much valuable territory for such a modest price.^[7] Historian Patrick Jung concluded that the Sauk and Meskwaki chiefs intended to cede a little land, but that the Americans included more territory in the treaty's language than the Natives realized.^[8] According to Jung, the Sauks and Meskwakis did not learn the true extent of the cession until years later.^[9]

The 1804 treaty allowed the tribes to continue using the ceded land until it was sold to American settlers by the U.S. government.^[10] For the next two decades, Sauks continued to live at Saukenuk, their primary village, which was located near the confluence of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers.^[11] In 1828, the U.S. government finally began to have the ceded land surveyed for white settlement. Indian agentThomas Forsyth informed the Sauks that they should vacate Saukenuk and their other settlements east of the Mississippi.^[12]

Sauks divided[edit]

The Sauks were divided about whether to resist implementation of the disputed 1804 treaty.^[13] Most Sauks decided to relocate west of the Mississippi rather than become involved in a confrontation with the United States. The leader of this group was Keokuk, who had helped defend Saukenuk against the Americans during the War of 1812. Keokuk was not a chief, but as a skilled orator, he often spoke on behalf of the Sauk civil chiefs in negotiations with the Americans.^[14] Keokuk regarded the 1804 treaty as a fraud, but after having seen the size of American cities on the east coast in 1824, he did not think the Sauks could successfully oppose the United States.^[15]

Although the majority of the tribe decided to follow Keokuk's lead, about 800 Sauks—roughly one-sixth of the tribe—chose instead to resist American expansion.^[16]Black Hawk, a war captain who had fought against the United States in the War of 1812 and was now in his 60s, emerged as the leader of this faction in 1829.^[17] Like Keokuk, Black Hawk was not a civil chief, but he became Keokuk's primary rival for influence within the tribe. Black Hawk had actually signed a treaty in May 1816 that affirmed the disputed 1804 land cession, but he insisted that what had been written down was different from what had been spoken at the treaty conference. According to Black Hawk, the 'whites were in the habit of saying one thing to the Indians and putting another thing down on paper.'^[18]

Black Hawk was determined to hold onto Saukenuk, where he lived and had been born. When the Sauks returned to the village in 1829 after their annual winter hunt in the west, they found that it had been occupied by white squatters who were anticipating the sale of land.^[19] After months of clashes with the squatters, the Sauks left in September 1829 for the next winter hunt. Hoping to avoid further confrontations, Keokuk told Forsyth that he and his followers would not return to Saukenuk.^[20]

Against the advice of Keokuk and Forsyth, Black Hawk's faction returned to Saukenuk in the spring of 1830.^[21] This time, they were joined by more than 200 Kickapoos, a people who had often allied with the Sauks.^[22] Black Hawk and his followers became known as the 'British Band' because they sometimes flew a British flag to defy claims of U.S. sovereignty, and because they hoped to gain the support of the British at Fort Malden in Canada.^[23]

When the British Band once again returned to Saukenuk in 1831, Black Hawk's following had grown to about 1,500 people, and now included some Potawatomis,^[24] a people with close ties to the Sauks and Meskwakis.^[25] American officials determined to force the British Band out of the state. General Edmund P. Gaines, commander of the Western Department of the United States Army, assembled troops with the hope of intimidating Black Hawk into leaving. The army had no cavalry to pursue the Sauks should they flee further into Illinois on horseback, and so on June 5 Gaines requested that the state militia provide a mounted battalion.^[26] Illinois governor John Reynolds had already alerted the militia; about 1,500 volunteers turned out.^[27] Meanwhile, Keokuk convinced many of Black Hawk's followers to leave Illinois.^[28]

On June 26, 1831, Gaines launched an assault against Saukenuk, only to find that Black Hawk and his followers had abandoned the village and recrossed the Mississippi.^[29] On June 30, Black Hawk, Quashquame, and other Sauk leaders met with Gaines and signed an agreement in which the Sauks promised to remain west of the Mississippi and to break off further contact with the British in Canada.^[30]

Black Hawk's return[edit]

Black Hawk did not remain west of the Mississippi for long. In late 1831, Neapope, a Sauk civil chief, returned from Fort Malden and told Black Hawk that the British and the other Illinois tribes were prepared to support the Sauks against the United States. Why Neapope made these claims, which would prove to be unfounded, is unclear. Historians have described Neapope's report to Black Hawk as 'wishful thinking'^[31] and the product of a 'fertile imagination'.^[32] Black Hawk welcomed the information, though he would later criticize Neapope for misleading him. He spent the winter in an unsuccessful attempt to recruit additional allies from other tribes and from Keokuk's followers.^[33]

According to Neapope's erroneous report, Wabokieshiek ('White Cloud'), a shaman known to Americans as the 'Winnebago Prophet', had claimed that other tribes were ready to support Black Hawk.^[32] Wabokieshiek's mother was a Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), but his father had belonged to a Sauk clan that provided the tribe's civil leaders. When Wabokieshiek joined the British Band in 1832, he would become the ranking Sauk civil chief in the group.^[34] His village, Prophetstown, was about thirty-five miles up the Rock River from Saukenuk.^[35] The village was inhabited by about 200^[16] Ho-Chunks, Sauks, Meskwakis, Kickapoos, and Potawatomis who were dissatisfied with tribal leaders who refused to stand up to American expansion.^[36] Although some Americans would later characterize Wabokieshiek as a primary instigator of the Black Hawk War, the Winnebago Prophet, according to historian John Hall, 'actually discouraged his followers from resorting to armed conflict with the whites'.^[37]

On April 5, 1832, the British Band entered Illinois once again.^[38] Numbering about 500 warriors and 600 non-combatants, they crossed near the mouth of the Iowa River over to Yellow Banks (present-day Oquawka, Illinois), and then headed north.^[39] Black Hawk's intentions upon reentering Illinois are not entirely clear, since reports from both white and Indian sources are conflicting. Some said that the British Band intended to reoccupy Saukenuk, while others said that the destination was Prophetstown.^[40] According to historian Kerry Trask, 'even Black Hawk may not have been sure where they were going and what they intended to do'.^[41]

As the British Band moved into Illinois, American officials urged Wabokieshiek to advise Black Hawk to turn back. Previously, the Winnebago Prophet had encouraged Black Hawk to come to Prophetstown, arguing that the 1831 agreement made with General Gaines prohibited a return to Saukenuk, but did not forbid the Sauks from moving to Prophetstown.^[42] Now, instead of telling Black Hawk to turn back, Wabokieshiek told him that, as long as the British Band remained peaceful, the Americans would have no choice but to let them settle at Prophetstown, especially if the British and the area tribes supported the band.^[43] Although the British Band traveled with armed guards as a security precaution, Black Hawk was probably hoping to avoid a war when he reentered Illinois. The presence of women, children, and the elderly indicated that the band was not a war party.^[44]

Intertribal war and American policy[edit]

Although the return of Black Hawk's band worried U.S. officials, they were at the time more concerned about the possibility of a war among the Native American tribes in the region.^[45] Most accounts of the Black Hawk War focus on the conflict between Black Hawk and the United States, but historian John Hall argues that this overlooks the perspective of many Native American participants. According to Hall, 'the Black Hawk War also involved an intertribal conflict that had smoldered for decades'.^[46] Tribes along the Upper Mississippi had long fought for control of diminishing hunting grounds, and the Black Hawk War provided an opportunity for some Natives to resume a war that had nothing to do with Black Hawk.^[47]

After having displaced the British as the dominant outside power following the War of 1812, the United States had assumed the role of mediator in intertribal disputes. Before the Black Hawk War, U.S. policy discouraged intertribal warfare. This was not strictly for humanitarian reasons: intertribal warfare made it more difficult for the United States to acquire Indian land and move the tribes to the West, a policy known as Indian removal, which had become the primary goal by the late 1820s.^[48] U.S. efforts at mediation included multi-tribal treaty councils at Prairie du Chien in 1825 and 1830, in which tribal boundaries were drawn.^[49] Native Americans sometimes resented American mediation, especially young men, for whom warfare was an important avenue of social advancement.^[50]

The situation was complicated by the American spoils system. After Andrew Jackson assumed the U.S. presidency in March 1829, many competent Indian agents were replaced by unqualified Jackson loyalists, argues historian John Hall. Men like Thomas Forsyth, John Marsh, and Thomas McKenney were replaced by less qualified men such as Felix St. Vrain. In the 19th century, historian Lyman Draper argued that the Black Hawk War could have been avoided had Forsyth remained as the agent to the Sauks.^[51]

In 1830, violence threatened to undo American attempts at preventing intertribal warfare. In May, Dakotas (Santee Sioux) and Menominees killed fifteen Meskwakis attending a treaty conference at Prairie du Chien. In retaliation, a party of Meskwakis and Sauks killed twenty-six Menominees, including women and children, at Prairie du Chien in July 1831.^[52] American officials discouraged the Menominees from seeking revenge, but the western bands of the tribe formed a coalition with the Dakotas to strike at the Sauks and Meskwakis.^[53]

Hoping to prevent the outbreak of a wider war, American officials ordered the U.S. Army to arrest the Meskwakis who massacred the Menominees.^[54] General Gaines was ill, and so his subordinate, Brigadier General Henry Atkinson, received the assignment.^[55] Atkinson was a middle-aged officer who had ably handled administrative and diplomatic tasks, most notably during the 1827 Winnebago War, but he had never seen combat.^[56] On April 8, he set out from Jefferson Barracks in Missouri, moving up the Mississippi River by steamboat with about 220 soldiers. By chance, Black Hawk and his British Band had just crossed into Illinois. Although Atkinson did not realize it, his boats passed Black Hawk's band.^[57]

When Atkinson arrived at Fort Armstrong on Rock Island on April 12, he learned that the British Band was in Illinois, and that most of the Meskwakis he wanted to arrest were now with the band.^[58] Like other American officials, Atkinson was convinced that the British Band intended to start a war. Because he had few troops at his disposal, Atkinson hoped to get support from the Illinois state militia. He wrote to Governor Reynolds on April 13, describing—and perhaps purposely exaggerating—the threat that the British Band posed.^[59] Reynolds, who was eager for a war to drive the Indians out of the state, responded as Atkinson had hoped: he called for militia volunteers to assemble at Beardstown by April 22 to begin a thirty-day enlistment. The 2,100 men who volunteered were organized into a brigade of five regiments under Brigadier General Samuel Whiteside.^[60] Among the militiamen was 23-year-old Abraham Lincoln, who was elected captain of his company.^[61]

Initial diplomacy[edit]

After Atkinson's arrival at Rock Island on April 12, 1832, he, Keokuk, and Meskwaki chief Wapello sent emissaries to the British Band, which was now ascending the Rock River. Black Hawk rejected the messages advising him to turn back.^[62] Colonel Zachary Taylor, a regular army officer who served under Atkinson, later stated that Atkinson should have made an attempt to stop the British Band by force. Some historians have agreed, arguing that Atkinson could have prevented the outbreak of war with more decisive action or astute diplomacy. Cecil Eby charged that 'Atkinson was a paper general, unwilling to proceed until all risk had been eliminated'.^[63] Kerry Trask, however, argued that Atkinson was correct in believing that he did not yet have enough troops to stop the British Band.^[64] According to Patrick Jung, leaders on both sides had little chance of avoiding bloodshed at this point, because the militiamen and some of Black Hawk's warriors were spoiling for a fight.^[65]

Meanwhile, Black Hawk learned that the Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi tribes were less supportive than anticipated. As in other tribes, different bands of these tribes often pursued different policies.^[66] The Ho-Chunks who lived along the Rock River in Illinois had family ties to the Sauks; they cautiously supported the British Band while trying not to provoke the Americans.^[67] Ho-Chunks in Wisconsin were more divided. Some bands, remembering their loss to the Americans in the 1827 Winnebago War, decided to stay clear of the conflict. Other Ho-Chunks with ties to the Dakotas and Menominees, most notably Waukon Decorah and his brothers, were eager to fight against the British Band.^[68]

Most Potawatomis wanted to remain neutral in the conflict, but found it difficult to do so.^[69] Many white settlers, recalling the Fort Dearborn massacre of 1812, distrusted the Potawatomis and assumed that they would join Black Hawk's uprising.^[70] Potawatomi leaders worried that the tribe as a whole would be punished if any Potawatomis supported Black Hawk. At a council outside Chicago on May 1, 1832, Potawatomi leaders including Billy Caldwell 'passed a resolution declaring any Potawatomi who supported Black Hawk a traitor to his tribe'.^[71] In mid May, Potawatomi chiefs Shabonna and Waubonsie told Black Hawk that neither they nor the British would come to his aid.^[72]

Without British supplies, adequate provisions, or Native allies, Black Hawk realized that his band was in serious trouble.^[73] By some accounts, he was ready to negotiate with Atkinson to end the crisis, but an ill-fated encounter with Illinois militiamen would end all possibility of a peaceful resolution.^[74]

Stillman's Run[edit]

On May 8, General Whiteside's militia brigade was mustered into federal service under Atkinson. Two days later, the militia and regulars began marching up the Rock River in pursuit of the British Band, with Governor Reynolds accompanying the expedition as a major general of militia. Atkinson allowed Reynolds, Whiteside, and the militiamen to take the lead while he brought up the rear with the regular soldiers.^[75] In what historian Patrick Jung calls a 'serious lapse in judgment', Atkinson directed the militia—his least trained and disciplined men—to 'move upon the Indians should they be within striking distance without waiting for my arrival'.^[75] On May 12, the militiamen learned that Black Hawk's band was only twenty-five miles away. Reynolds wanted to send out a scouting force, but the cautious Whiteside insisted on waiting for Atkinson. Because most of the militia were now under U.S. Army command, Reynolds could not give them orders, but he did have two battalions of mounted militia under Major Isaiah Stillman that had not been federalized. In what would prove to be a controversial decision, Reynolds sent these 260 amateur citizen-soldiers forward to reconnoiter the British Band.^[76]

In what became known as the Battle of Stillman's Run, the two battalions of militia came into contact with Black Hawk and his warriors on May 14, near present-day Stillman Valley. Accounts of how the battle began are varied.^[77] Black Hawk later stated that he sent three men under a white flag to parley, but the Americans imprisoned them and opened fire on a second group of observers who followed. Some militiamen never reported seeing a white flag; others believed that the flag was a ruse the Indians used to set an ambush.^[78] All accounts agree that Black Hawk's warriors attacked the militia camp at dusk. To Black Hawk's surprise, his forty warriors completely routed the much larger militia force. Twelve Illinois militiamen were killed in the humiliating defeat; the British Band suffered only three fatalities.^[79]

The Battle of Stillman's run was a turning point. Prior to this battle, Black Hawk had not been committed to war. Now he determined to avenge what he saw as the treacherous killing of his warriors under a flag of truce.^[80] After Stillman's defeat, American leaders like President Jackson and Secretary of WarLewis Cass would not consider a diplomatic solution; they wanted a resounding victory over Black Hawk to serve as an example to other Native Americans who might consider similar uprisings.^[81]

Initial raids[edit]

With hostilities now underway, and few allies to depend upon, Black Hawk sought a place of refuge for the women, children, and elderly in his band. Accepting an offer from the Rock River Ho-Chunks, the band traveled further upriver to Lake Koshkonong in the Michigan Territory and camped in an isolated place known as the 'Island'.^[82] With the non-combatants secure, members the British Band, with a number of Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi allies, began raiding white settlers.^[83] Not all Native Americans in the region supported this turn of events; most notably, Potawatomi chief Shabonna rode throughout the settlements, warning whites of the impending attacks.^[84]

The initial raiding parties consisted primarily of Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi warriors. The first attack came on May 19, 1832, when Ho-Chunks ambushed six men near Buffalo Grove, Illinois, killing a man named William Durley.^[85] Durley's scalped and mutilated body was found by Indian agent Felix St. Vrain. The Indian agent was himself killed and mutilated, along with three other men, several days later at Kellogg's Grove.^[86]

The Ho-Chunks and Potawatomis, who took part in the war, were sometimes, motivated by grievances, not directly related to Black Hawk's objectives.^[87] One such incident was the Indian Creek massacre. In the spring of 1832, Potawatomis living along Indian Creek were upset that a settler named William Davis had dammed the creek, preventing fish from reaching their village. Davis ignored the protests, and assaulted a Potawatomi man who tried to dismantle the dam.^[88] The Black Hawk War provided the Indian Creek Potawatomis with an opportunity for revenge. On May 21, about fifty Potawatomis and three Sauks from the British Band attacked Davis's settlement, killing, scalping, and mutilating fifteen men, women, and children.^[89] Two teenage girls from the settlement were kidnapped and taken to Black Hawk's camp.^[90] A Ho-Chunk chief named White Crow negotiated their release two weeks later.^[91] Like other Rock River Ho-Chunks, White Crow was trying to placate the Americans while clandestinely aiding the British Band.^[92]

American reorganization[edit]

News of Stillman's defeat, the Indian Creek massacre, and other smaller attacks triggered panic among the white population. Many settlers fled to Chicago, then a small town, which became overcrowded with hungry refugees.^[93] Many Potawatomis also fled towards Chicago, not wanting to get caught in the conflict nor be mistaken for hostiles.^[94] Throughout the region, settlers hurriedly organized militia units and built small forts.^[95]

After Stillman's defeat on May 14, the regulars and militia continued up the Rock River to search for Black Hawk. The militiamen became discouraged at not being able to find the British Band. When they heard about the Indian raids, many deserted so that they could return home to defend their families.^[96] As morale plummeted, Governor Reynolds asked his militia officers to vote on whether to continue the campaign. General Whiteside, disgusted with the performance of his men, cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of disbanding.^[97] Most of Whiteside's brigade disbanded at Ottawa, Illinois, on May 28. About 300 men, including Abraham Lincoln, agreed to remain in the field for twenty more days until a new militia force could be organized.^[98]

As Whiteside's brigade disbanded, Atkinson organized a new force in June 1832 that he dubbed the 'Army of the Frontier'.^[99] The army consisted of 629 regular army infantrymen and 3,196 mounted militia volunteers. The militia was divided into three brigades commanded by Brigadier Generals Alexander Posey, Milton Alexander, and James D. Henry. Since many men were assigned to local patrols and guard duties, Atkinson had only 450 regulars and 2,100 militiamen available for campaigning.^[100] Many more militiamen served in units that were not part of the Army of the Frontier's three brigades. Abraham Lincoln, for example, reenlisted as a private in an independent company that was taken into federal service. Henry Dodge, a Michigan territorial militia colonel who would prove to be one of the best commanders in the war,^[101] fielded a battalion of mounted volunteers that numbered 250 men at its strongest. The overall number of militiamen who took part in the war is not precisely known; the total from Illinois alone has been estimated at six to seven thousand.^[102]

In addition to organizing a new militia army, Atkinson also began to recruit Native American allies, reversing the previous American policy of trying to prevent intertribal warfare.^[103] Menominees, Dakotas, and some Ho-Chunks bands were eager to go to war against the British Band. By June 6, agent Joseph M. Street had assembled about 225 Natives at Prairie du Chien.^[104] This force included about eighty Dakotas under Wabasha and L'Arc, forty Menominees, and several bands of Ho Chunks.^[105] Although the Indian warriors followed their own leaders, Atkinson placed the force under the nominal command of William S. Hamilton, a militia colonel and a son of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton would prove to be an unfortunate choice to lead the force; historian John Hall characterized him as 'pretentious and unqualified'.^[106] Before long, the Indians became frustrated with marching around under Hamilton and not seeing any action. Some Menominee scouts remained, but most of the Natives eventually left Hamilton and fought the war on their own terms.^[107]

June raids[edit]

In June 1832, after hearing that Atkinson was forming a new army, Black Hawk began sending out raiding parties. Perhaps hoping to lead the Americans away from his camp at Lake Koshkonong, he targeted areas to the west.^[108] The first major attack occurred on June 14 near present-day South Wayne, Wisconsin, when a band of about 30 warriors attacked a group of farmers, killing and scalping four.^[109]

Responding to this attack, militia Colonel Henry Dodge gathered a force of twenty-nine mounted volunteers and set out in pursuit of the attackers. On June 16, Dodge and his men cornered about eleven of the raiders at a bend in the Pecatonica River. In a brief battle, the Americans killed and scalped all of the Natives.^[110] The Battle of Horseshoe Bend (or Battle of Pecatonica) was the first real American victory in the war, and helped restore public confidence in the volunteer militia force.^[111]

On the same day of Dodge's victory, another skirmish took place at Kellogg's Grove in present-day Stephenson County, Illinois. American forces had occupied Kellogg's Grove in an effort to intercept war parties raiding to the west. In the First Battle of Kellogg's Grove, militia commanded by Adam W. Snyder pursued a British Band raiding party of about thirty warriors. Three Illinois militiamen and six Native warriors died in the fighting.^[112] Two days later, on June 18, militia under James W. Stephenson encountered what was probably the same war party near Yellow Creek. The Battle of Waddams Grove became a hard fought, hand-to-hand melee. Three militiamen and five or six Indians were killed in the action.^[113]

Back on June 6, when a civilian miner was killed by raiders near the village of Blue Mounds in the Michigan Territory, residents began to fear that the Rock River Ho-Chunks were joining the war.^[114] On June 20, a Ho-Chunk raiding party estimated by one eyewitness to be as large as 100 warriors attacked the settler fort at Blue Mounds. Two militiamen were killed in the attack, one of whom was badly mutilated.^[115]

On June 24, 1832, Black Hawk and about 200 warriors attacked at the hastily constructed Apple River Fort, near present-day Elizabeth, Illinois. Local settlers, warned of Black Hawk's approach, took refuge in the fort, which was defended by about 20^[116] to 35^[117] militiamen. The Battle of Apple River Fort lasted about forty-five minutes. The women and girls inside the fort, under the direction of Elizabeth Armstrong, loaded muskets and molded bullets.^[116] After losing several men, Black Hawk broke off the siege, looted the nearby homes, and headed back towards his camp.^[118]

The next day, June 25, Black Hawk's party encountered a militia battalion commanded by Major John Dement. In the Second Battle of Kellogg's Grove, Black Hawk's warriors drove the militiamen inside their fort and commenced a two-hour siege. After losing nine warriors and killing five militiamen, Black Hawk broke off the siege and returned to his main camp at Lake Koshkonong.^[119] This would prove to be Black Hawk's last military success in the war. With his band running low on food, he decided to take them back across the Mississippi.^[120]

Final campaign[edit]

On June 15, 1832, President Andrew Jackson, displeased with Atkinson's handling of the war, appointed General Winfield Scott to take command.^[121] Scott gathered about 950 troops from eastern army posts just as a cholera pandemic had spread to eastern North America.^[122] As Scott's troops traveled by steamboat from Buffalo, New York, across the Great Lakes towards Chicago, his men started getting sick from cholera, with many of them dying. At each place the vessels landed, the sick were deposited and soldiers deserted. By the time the last steamboat landed in Chicago, Scott had only about 350 effective soldiers left.^[123] On July 29, Scott began a hurried journey west, ahead of his troops, eager to take command of what was certain to be the war's final campaign, but he would be too late to see any combat.^[124]

General Atkinson, who learned in early July that Scott would be taking command, hoped to bring the war to a successful conclusion before Scott's arrival.^[125] The Americans had difficulty locating the British Band, however, thanks in part to false intelligence given to them by area Native Americans. Potawatomis and Ho-Chunks in Illinois, many of whom had sought to remain neutral in the war, decided to cooperate with the Americans. Tribal leaders knew that some of their warriors had aided the British Band, and so they hoped that a highly visible show of support for the Americans would dissuade U.S. officials from punishing the tribes after the conflict was over. Wearing white headbands to distinguish themselves from hostile Natives, Ho-Chunks and Potawatomis served as guides for Atkinson's army.^[126] Ho-Chunks sympathetic to the plight of Black Hawk's people misled Atkinson into thinking that the British Band was still at Lake Koshkonong. While Atkinson's men were trudging through the swamps and running low on provisions, the British Band had in fact relocated miles to the north.^[127] Potawatomis under Billy Caldwell also managed to demonstrate support for the Americans while avoiding battle.^[128]

In mid-July, Colonel Dodge learned from métis trader Pierre Paquette that the British Band was camped near the Rock River rapids, at present Hustisford, Wisconsin.^[129] Dodge and James D. Henry set out in pursuit from Fort Winnebago on July 15.^[130] The British Band, reduced to fewer than 600 people due to death and desertion, headed for the Mississippi River as the militia approached.^[131] The Americans pursued them, killing and scalping several Native stragglers along the way.^[132]

Wisconsin Heights[edit]

On July 21, 1832, the militiamen caught up with the British Band near present-day Sauk City, Wisconsin. To buy time for the noncombatants to cross the Wisconsin River, Black Hawk and Neapope confronted the Americans in a rear guard action that became known as the Battle of Wisconsin Heights. Black Hawk was desperately outnumbered, leading about 50 Sauks and 60 to 70 Kickapoos against 750 militiamen.^[133] The battle was a lopsided victory for the militiamen, who lost only one man while killing as many as 68 of Black Hawk's warriors.^[134] Despite the high casualties, the battle allowed much of the British Band, including many women and children, to escape across the river.^[135] Black Hawk had managed to hold off a much larger force while allowing most of his people to escape, a difficult military operation that impressed some U.S. Army officers when they learned of it.^[136]

The Battle of Wisconsin Heights had been a victory for the militia; no regular soldiers of the U.S. Army had been present.^[137] Atkinson and the regulars joined up with the volunteers several days after the battle. With a force of about 400 regulars and 900 militiamen, the Americans crossed the Wisconsin River on July 27 and resumed the pursuit of the British Band.^[138] The British Band was moving slow, encumbered with wounded warriors and people dying of starvation. The Americans followed the trail of dead bodies, cast off equipment, and the remains of horses the hungry Natives had eaten.^[139]

Bad Axe[edit]

After the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, a messenger from Black Hawk had shouted to the militiamen that the starving British Band was going back across the Mississippi and would fight no more. No one in the American camp understood the message, however, since their Ho-Chunk guides were not present to interpret.^[140] Black Hawk may have believed that the Americans had gotten the message, and that they had not pursued him after the Battle of Wisconsin Heights. He apparently expected that the Americans were going to let his band recross the Mississippi unmolested.^[141]

The Americans, however, had no intentions of letting the British Band escape. The Warrior, a steamboat outfitted with an artillery piece, patrolled the Mississippi River, while American-allied Dakotas, Menominees, and Ho-Chunks watched the banks.^[142] On August 1, the Warrior arrived at the mouth of the Bad Axe River, where the Dakotas told the Americans that they would find Black Hawk's people.^[143] Black Hawk raised a white flag in an attempt to surrender, but his intentions may have been garbled in translation.^[144] The Americans, in no mood to accept a surrender anyway, thought that the Indians were using the white flag to set an ambush. When they became certain that the Natives on land were the British Band, they opened fire. Twenty-three Natives were killed in the exchange of gunfire, while just one soldier on the Warrior was injured.^[145]

After the Warrior left, Black Hawk decided to seek refuge in the north with the Ojibwes. Only about 50 people, including Wabokieshiek, agreed to go with him; the others remained, determined to cross the Mississippi and return to Sauk territory.^[146] The next morning, on August 2, Black Hawk was heading north when he learned that the American army had closed in on the members of the British Band who were trying to cross the Mississippi.^[147] He tried to rejoin the main body, but after a skirmish with American troops near present-day Victory, Wisconsin, he gave up the attempt.^[147] Sauk chief Weesheet later criticized Black Hawk and Wabokieshiek for abandoning the people during the final battle of the war.^[148]

The Battle of Bad Axe began at about 9:00 am on August 2 after the Americans caught up with the remnants of the British Band a few miles downstream from the mouth of the Bad Axe River. The British Band was reduced to roughly 500 people by this time, including about 150 warriors.^[149] The warriors fought with the Americans while the Native noncombatants frantically tried to cross the river. Many made it to one of the two nearby islands, but were dislodged after the steamboat Warrior returned at noon, carrying regulars and Menominees allied with the Americans.^[150]

The battle was another lopsided victory for the Americans, who lost just 14 men, including one Menominee who died by friendly fire and was buried with honors alongside the white soldiers.^[151] At least 260 members of the British Band were killed, including about 110 who drowned while trying to cross the river. Although the regular soldiers of the U.S. Army generally tried to avoid needless bloodshed, many of the militiamen intentionally killed Native noncombatants, sometimes in cold blood.^[152] The encounter was, in the words of historian Patrick Jung, 'less of a battle and more of a massacre'.^[2]

Menominees from Green Bay, who had mobilized a battalion of nearly 300 men, arrived too late for the battle. They were upset at having missed the chance to fight their old enemies, and so on August 10, General Scott sent 100 of them after a part of the British Band that had escaped.^[153] Indian agent Samuel C. Stambaugh, who accompanied them, urged the Menominees not to take any scalps, but Chief Grizzly Bear insisted that such a prohibition could not be enforced.^[154] The group tracked down about ten Sauks, only two of whom were warriors. The Menominees killed and scalped the warriors, but spared the women and children.^[155]

The Dakotas, who had volunteered 150 warriors to fight against the Sauks and Meskwakis, also arrived too late to participate in the Battle of Bad Axe, but they pursued the members of the British Band who made it across the Mississippi into Iowa. On about August 9, in the final engagement of the war,^[156] they attacked the remnants of the British Band along the Cedar River, killing 68 and taking 22 prisoners.^[157] Ho-Chunks also hunted survivors of the British Band, taking between fifty and sixty scalps.^[158]

Aftermath[edit]

The Black Hawk War resulted in the deaths of 77 white settlers, militiamen, and regular soldiers.^[2] This figure does not include the deaths from cholera suffered by the relief force under General Winfield Scott. Estimates of how many members of the British Band died during the conflict range from about 450 to 600, or about half of the 1,100 people who entered Illinois with Black Hawk in 1832.^[159]

A number of American men with political ambitions fought in the Black Hawk War. At least seven future U.S. Senators took part, as did four future Illinois governors; future governors of Michigan, Nebraska, and the Wisconsin Territory; and one future U.S. president.^[160] The Black Hawk War demonstrated to American officials the need for mounted troops to fight a mounted foe. During the war, the U.S. Army did not have cavalry; the only mounted soldiers were part-time volunteers. After the war, Congress created the Mounted Ranger Battalion under the command of Henry Dodge, which was expanded to the 1st Cavalry Regiment in 1833.^[161]

Black Hawk's imprisonment and legacy[edit]

After the Battle of Bad Axe, Black Hawk, Wabokieshiek, and their followers traveled northeast to seek refuge with the Ojibwes. American officials offered a reward of $100 and forty horses for Black Hawk's capture.^[162] While camping near present-day Tomah, Wisconsin, Black Hawk's party was seen by a passing Ho-Chunk man, who alerted his village chief. The village council sent a delegation to Black Hawk's camp and convinced him to surrender to the Americans. On August 27, 1832, Black Hawk and Wabokieshiek surrendered at Prairie du Chien to Indian agent Joseph Street.^[163] Colonel Zachary Taylor took custody of the prisoners, and sent them by steamboat to Jefferson Barracks, escorted by Lieutenants Jefferson Davis and Robert Anderson.^[164]

By war's end, Black Hawk and nineteen other leaders of the British Band were incarcerated at Jefferson Barracks. Most of the prisoners were released in the succeeding months, but in April 1833, Black Hawk, Wabokieshiek, Neapope, and three others were transferred to Fort Monroe in Virginia, which was better equipped to hold prisoners.^[165] The American public was eager to catch a glimpse of the captured Indians. Large crowds gathered in Louisville and Cincinnati to watch them pass.^[166] On April 26, the prisoners met briefly with President Jackson in Washington, D.C., before being taken to Fort Monroe.^[167] Even in prison they were treated as celebrities: they posed for portraits by artists such as Charles Bird King and John Wesley Jarvis, and a dinner was held in their honor before they left.^[168]

American officials decided to release the prisoners after a few weeks. First, however, the Natives were required to visit several large U.S. cities on the east coast. This was a tactic often used when Native American leaders came to the East, because it was thought that a demonstration of the size and power of the United States would discourage future resistance to U.S. expansion.^[169] Beginning on June 4, 1833, Black Hawk and his companions were taken on a tour of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. They attended dinners and plays, and were shown a battleship, various public buildings, and a military parade. Huge crowds gathered to see them. Black Hawk's handsome son Nasheweskaska (Whirling Thunder) was a particular favorite.^[170] Reaction in the west, however, was less welcoming. When the prisoners traveled through Detroit on their way home, one crowd burned and hanged effigies of the Indians.^[171]

According to historian Kerry Trask, Black Hawk and his fellow prisoners were treated like celebrities because the Indians served as a living embodiment of the noble savage myth that had become popular in the eastern United States. Then and later, argues Trask, white Americans absolved themselves of complicity in the dispossession of Native Americans by expressing admiration or sympathy for defeated Indians like Black Hawk.^[172] The mythologizing of Black Hawk continued, argues Trask, with the many plaques and memorials that were later erected in his honor. 'Indeed,' writes Trask, 'most of the reconstructed memory of the Black Hawk War has been designed to make white people feel good about themselves.'^[173] Black Hawk also became an admired symbol of resistance among Native Americans, even among descendants of those who had opposed him.

Treaties and removals[edit]

The Black Hawk War marked the end of Native armed resistance to U.S. expansion in the Old Northwest^[174] The war provided an opportunity for American officials such as Andrew Jackson, Lewis Cass, and John Reynolds to compel Native American tribes to sell their lands east of the Mississippi River and move to the West, a policy known as Indian removal. Officials conducted a number of treaties after the war to purchase the remaining Native American land claims in the Old Northwest. The Dakotas and Menominees, who won approval from American officials for their role in the war, largely avoided postwar removal pressure until later decades.^[175]

After the war, American officials learned that some Ho-Chunks had aided Black Hawk more than had been previously known.^[176] Eight Ho-Chunks were briefly imprisoned at Fort Winnebago for their role in the war, but charges against them were eventually dropped due to a lack of witnesses.^[177] In September 1832, General Scott and Governor Reynolds conducted a treaty with the Ho-Chunks at Rock Island. The Ho-Chunks ceded all their land south of the Wisconsin River in exchange for a forty-mile strip of land in Iowa and annual payments of $10,000 for twenty-seven years.^[178] The land in Iowa was known as the 'Neutral Ground' because it had been designated in 1830 as a buffer zone between the Dakotas and their enemies to the south, the Sauks and Meskwakis.^[179] Scott hoped that the settlement of the Ho-Chunks in the Neutral Ground would help keep the peace.^[180] Ho-Chunks remaining in Wisconsin were pressured to sign a removal treaty in 1837, even though leaders such as Waukon Decorah had been U.S. allies during the Black Hawk War. General Atkinson was assigned to use the army to forcibly relocate those Ho-Chunks who refused to move to Iowa.^[181]

Following the September 1832 treaty with the Ho-Chunks, Scott and Reynolds conducted another with the Sauks and Meskwakis, with Keokuk and Wapello serving as the primary representatives of their tribes. Scott told the assembled chiefs that 'if a particular part of a nation goes out of their country, and makes war, the whole nation is responsible'.^[180] The tribes sold about 6 million acres (24,000 km²) of land in eastern Iowa to the United States for payments of $20,000 per year for thirty years, among other provisions.^[182] Keokuk was granted a reservation within the cession and recognized by the Americans as the primary chief of the Sauks and Meskwakis.^[183] The tribes sold the reservation to the United States in 1836, and additional land in Iowa the following year.^[184] Their last lands in Iowa were sold in 1842, and most of the Natives moved to a reservation in Kansas.^[185]

Thanks to the decision of Potawatomi leaders to aid the U.S. during the war, American officials did not seize tribal land as war reparations. Instead, only three individuals accused of leading the Indian Creek massacre were tried in court; they were acquitted.^[186] Nevertheless, the drive to purchase Potawatomi land west of the Mississippi began in October 1832, when commissioners in Indiana bought a large amount of Potawatomi land, even though not all Potawatomi bands were represented at the treaty.^[187] The tribe was compelled to sell their remaining land west of the Mississippi in a treaty held in Chicago in September 1833.^[188]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^Hall, 2: Jung, 174
2. ^ ^abcdJung, 172.
3. ^Eby, 17.
4. ^'Understanding the war between the States - Chapter 24'(PDF).
5. ^Hall, 21–26; Jung, 13–14; Trask, 29.
6. ^Jung, 14; Trask, 64.
7. ^Owens, 87–90.
8. ^Jung, 21–22.
9. ^Jung, 32.
10. ^Trask, 72.
11. ^Trask, 28–29.
12. ^Trask, 70; Jung, 52–53.
13. ^Jung, 52.
14. ^Jung, 55.
15. ^Jung, 54–55; Nichols, 78.
16. ^ ^abJung, 56.
17. ^Jung, 53.
18. ^Jung, 53; Trask, 73.
19. ^Hall, 90; Trask, 71.
20. ^Trask, 79.
21. ^Jung, 59.
22. ^Jung, 47, 58.
23. ^Hall, 90, 127; Jung, 56.
24. ^Jung, 60.
25. ^Edmunds, 235–36.
26. ^Eby, 83–86.
27. ^Eby, 88; Jung, 62.
28. ^Jung, 62.
29. ^Eby, 88–89; Jung, 63; Trask, 102.
30. ^Jung, 64; Trask, 105.
31. ^Hall, 116.
32. ^ ^abJung, 66.
33. ^Jung, 69; Hall, 116.
34. ^Jung, 74.
35. ^Trask, 63, 69.
36. ^Dowd, 193; Hall, 110.
37. ^Hall, 110.
38. ^Jung, 74; Hall, 116; Trask, 145, gives a more general date of 'probably April 6'.
39. ^Jung, 74–75; Trask, 145.
40. ^Trask, 149–50; Hall, 129–30.
41. ^Trask, 150.
42. ^Jung, 73; Trask, 146–47.
43. ^Hall, 110; Jung, 73.
44. ^Eby, 35; Jung, 74–75.
45. ^Jung 50, 70; Hall, 99–100.
46. ^Hall, 9.
47. ^Hall, 100.
48. ^Hall, 55, 95; Buckley, 165.
49. ^Buckley, 172–75; Hall, 77–78, 100–02.
50. ^Hall, 9, 24, 55, 237.
51. ^Hall, 103–04. Eby, 79, echoed the argument.
52. ^Jung, 49; Hall, 111.
53. ^Hall, 113–15.
54. ^Hall, 115; Jung, 49–50.
55. ^Hall, 115; Jung, 70.
56. ^Hall, 115; Jung, 71–72; Trask, 143.
57. ^Trask, 146.
58. ^Hall, 117; Jung, 75.
59. ^Jung, 76; Trask, 158–59.
60. ^Jung, 79–80; Trask, 174.
61. ^Jung, 79.
62. ^Jung, 76–77; Nichols, 117–18.
63. ^Eby, 93.
64. ^Trask, 152–55.
65. ^Jung, 86.
66. ^Hall, 10–11.
67. ^Hall, 131.
68. ^Hall, 122–23; Jung, 78–79.
69. ^Hall, 125.
70. ^Hall, 122.
71. ^Hall, 132.
72. ^Jung, 86–87; Edmunds, 236.
73. ^Jung, 83–84; Nichols, 120; Trask, 180–81.
74. ^Hall, 133.
75. ^ ^abJung, 84.
76. ^Jung, 85–86.
77. ^Jung, 88; Trask, 183.
78. ^Jung, 88–89; Trask, 186.
79. ^Jung, 89; Hall, 133–34.
80. ^Jung, 89.
81. ^Jung, 118–20.
82. ^Jung, 93–94.
83. ^Jung, 94, 108.
84. ^Edmunds, 237; Trask, 200; Jung, 95.
85. ^Jung, 95; Trask, 198.
86. ^Jung, 97; Trask, 198–99.
87. ^Jung, 95.
88. ^Hall, 135–36.
89. ^Jung, 95; Trask, 202.
90. ^Jung, 96; Trask, 215.
91. ^Trask, 212–17.
92. ^Hall, 152–54; 164–65.
93. ^Trask, 200–06; Jung, 97.
94. ^Edmunds, 238; Jung, 103.
95. ^Jung, 96.
96. ^Trask, 194–96.
97. ^Jung, 100; Trask, 196.
98. ^Jung, 101; Trask, 196–97.
99. ^Jung, 115.
100. ^Jung, 114–15.
101. ^Jung, 103.
102. ^Jung, 116.
103. ^Hall, 143–45.
104. ^Hall, 148.
105. ^Hall, 148; Jung 104.
106. ^Hall, 145.
107. ^Hall, 162–63; Jung, 105.
108. ^Jung, 108.
109. ^Jung, 109.
110. ^Jung, 109–10; Trask, 233–34.
111. ^Jung, 110; Trask, 234–37.
112. ^Jung, 111–12.
113. ^Jung, 112; Trask, 220–21.
114. ^Trask, 220.
115. ^Jung, 112; Trask, 220.
116. ^ ^abTrask, 222.
117. ^Jung, 113.
118. ^Jung, 114.
119. ^Jung, 121–23.
120. ^Jung, 124.
121. ^Jung, 118; Trask, 272.
122. ^Jung, 139.
123. ^Jung, 140–41; Trask, 271–75.
124. ^Jung, 141; Trask, 276.
125. ^Jung, 130.
126. ^Edmunds, 239; Hall, 244–49.
127. ^Jung, 131–34.
128. ^Hall, 165–67.
129. ^Jung, 142.
130. ^Jung, 144.
131. ^Jung, 146–48.
132. ^Jung, 149–50.
133. ^Jung, 153–56.
134. ^Jung, 156; Trask, 260–61.
135. ^Lewis, James. 'The Black Hawk War of 1832'. Abraham Lincoln Digitization Project. Northern Illinois University. p. 2c. Archived from the original on 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
136. ^Jung, 157.
137. ^Jung, 156.
138. ^Jung, 161; Trask, 268.
139. ^Jung, 162; Trask, 270–71.
140. ^Nichols, 131; Trask, 266.
141. ^Jung, 168–69.
142. ^Hall, 192–94.
143. ^Jung, 164–65; Hall, 194.
144. ^Jung, 165; Nichols, 133.
145. ^Jung, 166; Trask, 279.
146. ^Jung, 166; Nichols, 133. Jung says 'about 60 people' left with Black Hawk; Nichols, 135, estimated 'perhaps forty'.
147. ^ ^abJung, 169.
148. ^Jung, 180–81; Trask, 282.
149. ^Jung, 170.
150. ^Trask, 286–87; Jung, 170–71.
151. ^Jung, 171–72; Hall, 196.
152. ^Trask, 285–86, 293.
153. ^Hall, 197.
154. ^Hall, 198.
155. ^Hall, 199.
156. ^Hall, 202.
157. ^Jung, 175; Hall, 201.
158. ^Jung, 177; Hall, 210–11.
159. ^Jung, 172, 179.
160. ^Lewis, James. 'The Black Hawk War of 1832'. Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project. Northern Illinois University. p. 2d. Archived from the original on 2009-06-19. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
161. ^Jung 205–06.
162. ^Jung, 181.
163. ^Jung, 182; Trask, 294–95.
164. ^Jung, 183.
165. ^Jung, 190–91.
166. ^Trask, 298; Jung, 192.
167. ^Jung, 192; Trask, 298.
168. ^Nichols, 147; Trask, 298.
169. ^Jung, 191; Nichols, 148; Trask, 300.
170. ^Jung, 195–97; Nichols, 148–49; Trask, 300–01.
171. ^Trask, 301–02; Jung, 197.
172. ^Trask, 298–303.
173. ^Trask, 308.
174. ^Buckley, 210; Hall, 255; Jung, 208.
175. ^Hall, 207.
176. ^Hall, 209–10.
177. ^Jung, 207.
178. ^Hall, 212–13; Jung, 285–86.
179. ^Jung, 49; Buckley, 203.
180. ^ ^abJung, 186.
181. ^Hall, 259–61.
182. ^Trask, 304; Jung, 187.
183. ^Jung, 187.
184. ^Jung, 198.
185. ^Jung, 201–02.
186. ^Edmunds, 238; Hall, 208, 215.
187. ^Hall, 215–16.
188. ^Edmunds, 247–48; Hall, 231.

Black Hawk War Map

References[edit]

Secondary sources[edit]

• Buckley, Jay H. William Clark: Indian Diplomat. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. ISBN978-0-8061-3911-1; ISBN0-8061-3911-0.
• Eby, Cecil. 'That Disgraceful Affair', The Black Hawk War. New York: Norton, 1973. ISBN0-393-05484-5.
• Edmunds, R. David. The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire. University of Oklahoma Press, 1978. ISBN0-8061-1478-9
• Hall, John W. Uncommon Defense: Indian Allies in the Black Hawk War. Harvard University Press, 2009. ISBN0-674-03518-6.
• Jung, Patrick J. The Black Hawk War of 1832. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. ISBN0-8061-3811-4.
• Nichols, Roger L. Black Hawk and the Warrior's Path. Arlington Heights, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, 1992. ISBN0-88295-884-4.
• Nichols, Roger L. Warrior Nations: The United States and Indian Peoples. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.
• Owens, Robert M. Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. ISBN978-0-8061-3842-8.
• Trask, Kerry A. Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006. ISBN0-8050-7758-8.

Primary sources[edit]

• Black Hawk. Life of Black Hawk. Originally published 1833. Reprinted often in various editions. Revised in 1882 with inauthentic embellishments; most modern editions restore the original wording.
• Whitney, Ellen M., ed. The Black Hawk War, 1831–1832: Volume I, Illinois Volunteers. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1970. ISBN0-912154-22-5. Published as Volume XXXV of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library. Available online from the Internet Archive.
• ———, ed. The Black Hawk War, 1831–1832: Volume II, Letters & Papers, Part I, April 30, 1831 – June 23, 1832. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1973. ISBN0-912154-22-5. Published as Volume XXXVI of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library. Available online from the Internet Archive.
• ———, ed. The Black Hawk War, 1831–1832: Volume II, Letters & Papers, Part II, June 24, 1832 – October 14, 1834. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1975. ISBN0-912154-24-1. Published as Volume XXXVII of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library.
• ———, ed. The Black Hawk War, 1831–1832: Volume II, Letters and Papers, Part III, Appendices and Index. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1978. Published as Volume XXXVIII of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library.

External links[edit]

• The Black Hawk War of 1832, Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project
• Turning Points in Wisconsin History: The Black Hawk War (documents from the Wisconsin Historical Society)
• Webcast Lecture at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library by John W. Hall on March 27, 2010
• George Peacock diary, MSS 1228, at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Includes Peacock's recollection of incidents from the Black Hawk War.

The Black Hawk War, or Black Hawk's War, from 1865 to 1872, is the name of the estimated 150 battles, skirmishes, raids, and military engagements between primarily Mormon settlers in Sanpete County, Sevier County and other parts of central and southern Utah, and members of 16 Ute, Southern Paiute, Apache and Navajo tribes, led by a local Ute war chief, Antonga Black Hawk.^[1] The conflict resulted in the abandonment of some settlements and hindered Mormon expansion in the region.

The years 1865 to 1867 were by far the most intense of the conflict, though intermittent conflict occurred until federal troops intervened in 1872. The Utah Territory spent $1.5 million dollars on the war (equivalent to $28.23 million in 2018), and later requested reimbursement from the United States Government.^[2]

• 1Causes
• 2Timeline
• 3Events

Causes[edit]

Definitive reasons for the Black Hawk War are unknown. Lack of written history at the time makes the determination of cause and effect difficult. However, stories and opinions passed down by word of mouth from the side of the Native Americans and the settlers give insight into the state of affairs at the time leading up to the conflict.

It seems that both Ute and settlerapologetics agree that the war was not started by one singular event, but by a series of events. Both parties wanted the land, but by the time the war started each side likely believed that both cultures could no longer live together peacefully. They had tried to live in harmony since about 1849 when Mormon pioneers settled in Manti and joined the Sanpitstribe in the Sanpete valley. However, within a few years of 1849 there were sporadic acts of aggression on both sides leading up to the war. In 1865 the Jake Arapeen and John Lowry, Jr. incident in Manti marked the official beginning of the open warfare between the natives and the settlers,

John A. Peterson describes his point of view of the time:

Latter-day Saints considered themselves in a state of open warfare. They built scores of forts [such as Willden Fort] and deserted dozens of settlements while hundreds of Mormon militiamen chased their illusive [sic] adversaries through the wilderness with little success. Requests for a federal troops went unheeded for eight years. Unable to distinguish 'guilty' from 'friendly' tribesmen, frustrated Mormons at times indiscriminately killed Indians, including women and children'.^[3]

Ever since Mormon pioneers moved into Utah Valley in 1848 and built their fort at Provo, the Timpanogos Ute bands had been gradually pushed aside by settlers' demands for grazing land and farmland. Frustrations on both sides led to several short battles. After the 'Battle at Fort Utah' in 1850, the 'Walker War' in 1853–1854, and the 'Tintic War' in 1856, Mormon leaders were able to convince the Ute leaders to stop hostilities when the losses incurred by Utes were compensated with food, presents, and promises of future friendship. Chief Blackhawk was directly involved in these wars either as a combatant or in being coerced to serve as a guide for Mormon punitive expeditions against his people.

Utes had survived with the geography and harsh climate of Utah for centuries, but white settlement disrupted the economic equilibrium. Ute bands in Utah's central valleys were pushed out of traditional hunting and foraging areas by Mormon towns, farms, and livestock. Some Ute bands struggled to feed themselves. Cattle or horses put out to graze by the settlers were occasionally taken as a kind of 'rent' payment for the settlers' use of the land where Utes had lived for centuries. During the Black Hawk War, chief Black Hawk and allies made a business out of taking thousands of heads of livestock, transporting them out of Utah Territory and selling or trading them for goods and money with 'brokers' like Isaac Potter. Some suggest that Black Hawk believed that the loss of livestock was the quickest way to interfere with the growth of settlements.

Troubles that arose between the Mormons and the Utes resulted from culture clashes. Settlers refused to accept the Native American culture, and Native Americans rejected the settlers' culture of property rights.^[4] Native American culture included sharing of cattle, while the settlers' culture involved the buying and selling of land.^[5] Coexistence and compromise seemed unattainable.

Settler version of causes[edit]

From the Mormon settlers' point of view there were several reasons to go to war. The continuing loss of livestock to theft by natives and the continuous begging by Native Americans strained individual and community resources. Settlers viewed Utes as a threat to their personal and community future because the natives strained resources and had previously killed settlers in the area. The 'feed them, don't fight them' policy in dealing with Utes was unable to be sustained indefinitely. Because in 1849 Chief Walker offered the ground to the settlers, they believed the land now belonged to them.

On Saturday April 8, 1865, Ute war chief Black Hawk and Chief Jake Arapeen (also known as Chief Yene-wood, successor to Chief Wah-Kara of the Timpanogous tribe) the son of Chief Arapeen (senior), and a group of other Utes appeared to attend a council meeting in Manti near the present day elementary school. The whites had expected the Utes came to settle differences for 15 cattle that had been killed (one of which belonged to John Lowry), but Arapeen demanded restitution for his father's recent death to smallpox in the winter 1864–1865 epidemic. Utes believed settlers were using supernatural means to dispose of natives. Utes also thought they could stop the sickness and death by destroying white leaders. Settler John Lowry, an interpreter for the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Utah, believed in being peaceful and friendly when friendship was possible and had learned Ute and Shoshone languages. However, he also believed the settlers could survive only if they were quick to punish for the loss of cattle and to revenge the death of their friends.^[6] Lowry, who may have been drunk, claimed to be protecting an unarmed family and himself; Chief Arapeen began to argue back. Chief Sow-ok-soo-bet and Toquana, Chief Sowiette's son reminded Arapeen that the Mormons had often helped the natives with food and clothing, and urged a peaceful settlement of the issue. Arapeen set an arrow to his bow; Lowry instantly grabbed Arapeen by the hair and dragged him from his horse. There was a brief scuffle in the dirt and anxious associates on both sides dragged the two apart. Arapeen was badly beaten.^[7] Utes at this point had endured 15 years of white encroachment and 10 years of reservation life. Two days after this incident, a small group of riders from Manti was ambushed at Nine Mile and Peter Ludvingson was killed.^[8]

Ute version of causes[edit]

The causes from a Ute perspective were given in the words of Chief Walkara in an interview with interpreter M. S. Martinas 1853. 'He (Walkara) said that he had always been opposed to the whites set[t]ling on the Indian lands, particularly that portion which he claims; and on which his band resides and on which they have resided since his childhood, and his parents before him—that the Mormons when they first commenced the settlement of Salt Lake Valley, was friendly, and promised them many comforts, and lasting friendship—that they continued friendly for a short time, until they became strong in numbers, then their conduct and treatment towards the Indians changed—they were not only treated unkindly, but many were much abused and this course has been pursued up to the present—sometimes they have been treated with much severity—they have been driven by this population from place to place—settlements have been made on all their hunting grounds in the valleys, and the graves of their fathers have been torn up by the whites.' ^[9] This contrasts with Chief Walkara's meeting with Brigham Young in 1849 when Walkara offered his summer hunting ground in Sanpete for white settlement. One likely reason for this invitation was for Walkara to obtain cattle to feed his people.^[10]

Many of the attacks against the settlers were in retaliation for broken promises, mistreatment, or other acts that injured or killed Utes in the constant interaction between whites and Utes between the late 1849 and the 1873. For example, Richard Ivie's father was murdered outside Scipio for Richard's murder of a Ute nicknamed Old Bishop in Utah Valley sixteen years earlier.

The Native American version recognizes that the incident at Manti was not the single cause of the war but rather was the last of several events that had built up anger and frustration of the natives since 1849. Some of these events included the murder of Black Hawk's family at Battle Creek 1849 (which John Lowry was involved in), the killing of 70 of his kin including beheadings at Fort Utah in 1850, the Bear River Massacre in 1863, and the 'Squaw Fight' Grass valley massacre in 1865. In addition there was a local drought in 1864, and the food shortage in Mormon settlements and the US Indian agent's failure to provide enough supplies to Utes on the new Uintah Reservation brought many native bands to the brink of starvation. It is believed that Ute leaders, especially Chief Black Hawk, were aware that within a few years life as they knew it was about to end. Chief Black Hawk's personal agony was due to his people becoming increasingly famished, sick, and their alarming death rate.

Black Hawk had personally experienced the settlers' distrust and contempt for his people. He had been beaten for a supposed theft with a bucket; his family members had been shot, and supposedly their heads taken as trophies in the Fort Utah War. He had been forced to lead Mormon militia against his own people. He was not alone; other natives had badly suffered physical and emotional torment due to white settlers who were on their former lands.^{[citation needed]}

Timeline[edit]

Events leading up to War[edit]

• 1849 - Chief Walker met with Brigham Young to offer summer hunting ground for White settlement
• November 1849 - Settlers arrive in Sanpete ill-prepared. Natives take settlers' livestock that is left out in snow.
• 2 January 1852 - H.R. Day, an Indian agent for the district, writes in a letter the growing feeling of the Utes' doom because of settler encroachment on hunting grounds.^[7]
• April 1853 - Mexican slave traders prohibited by Sanpete Mormons from trading with Utes
• July 1853–May 1854 - Walker's War started and settled outside Sanpete
• October 1, 1853 - Four unarmed men hauling wheat from Manti to Salt Lake City were mutilated at Uintah Springs (now Fountain Green) in what is known as the Fountain Green Massacre.
• 4 October 1853 - Two men, John Ely Warner and William Mills killed at grist mill near Manti.
• October 1853 - Party of Captain John Gunnison massacred near Fillmore.^[11]
• 6 January 1854 Allred's Settlement (now Spring City) was burned down. Settlers moved and founded Ephraim.
• 12 May 1854 - Chief Walkara and Brigham Young make peace settlement in Juab County.
• 1855 - Walkara died. His brother Arapeen succeeded Walkara as chief.
• 1855 - Garland Hurt, and Indian agent for the district urged Indians to rapidly adopt culture and economy of white men.
• 1855 - Twelve Mile Creek Indian reservation formed in Mayfield.
• 23 December 1855 - Chief Arapeen deeds the land of his fathers to Brigham Young in Ephraim in hopes of permanent peace.
• November 1857 - Twelve Mile Creek Reservation reported as thriving.
• 4 June 1858 - Sanpitch Indians massacred 4 unarmed Danish travelers (Jens Jergensen, his pregnant wife Hedevig Marie Jensen Jorgensen, Jens Terklesen, and Christian I. Kjerluf) in the Salt Creek Canyon massacre.
• 29 January 1863 - Bear River Massacre. Five hundred thirty-one Shoshone people were slain by the U.S. army, just north of the Utah-Idaho border.
• 1864 - Twelve Mile Creek Reservation dissolved when Indians had stopped maintenance.
• 1864 - Act of Congress required Utes to give up all land and title rights and move to Uintah Reservation within a year.
• 1864–1865 (winter) - Smallpox epidemic sweeps through Ute band. Chief Arapeen (senior) was among casualties.

During War[edit]

• 8 April 1865 - Chief Jake Arapeen and interpreter John Lowry contended with each other. Official beginning of the war.
• 10 April 1865 - Peter Ludvingson from Manti was killed in an encounter between Utes and settlers at Nine Mile.
• 26 May 1865 - In the early morning hours John and Elizabeth Given along with their children John Jr., Mary, Anna, and Martha were killed by a band of Utes.Utah-Sanpete county border.
• 1865 - Black Hawk and his band killed 32 whites in Sanpete and Sevier Counties, and stole over 2,000 cattle and horses.
• 1866 - Mormon leaders consolidated settlements and cattle in Sanpete and Sevier Counties to forts in Manti, Ephraim, Mount Pleasant, Moroni, and Gunnison. Tabernacle fort built in Manti.
• 18 April 1866 - Chief Sanpitch (father of Black Hawk)^[12] killed near Fountain Green.
• 19 August 1868 - Armistice signed in Strawberry Valley.
• 26 September 1870 - Chief Black Hawk dies from tuberculosis
• September 1872 - Last white casualty by Ute.

Events[edit]

There were over 100 separate attacks, raids, skirmishes, murders, and massacres between April 1865 and October 1872 which constitute the events of the Black Hawk War in Utah. A few key events are listed here in chronological order.

The first attack occurred at Manti on April 10 when Black Hawk led sixteen Utes to drive off a cattle herd outside Manti. Several young men rode out to see what was going on and ran into the Utes who began to shoot. One of the young men was shot and killed the rest fled back to Manti. The Indians around Manti had already struck camp and left knowing that hostilities were about to begin. The Utes rounded up forty cattle and drove them toward Salina Canyon.

Salina Canyon Fight[edit]

Black Hawk sent runners out asking Jake Arapeen's band to join Black Hawk's band in Salina Canyon. The settlers at Salina did not even notice that the Utes who had been living in the valley had all disappeared. The two bands together had about 90 men. They killed two white men in Salina Canyon and drove off Salina's entire herd of cattle and horses, bringing the total to about 125. Calls for help went out from Salina to the territorial militia, then known as the Nauvoo Legion from Gunnison, Manti, Ephraim, and Spring City.

The eighty-four men of the Legion headed by Colonel Reddick Allred started up Salina Canyon on April 12. Thinking that the Indians would flee before such an imposing show of force, the militia failed to anticipate an ambush. In a narrow stretch of the canyon the Utes poured down arrows and bullets onto the mounted militia below. The instant panic that ensued among the untrained militia was a disaster. Only their speed of retreat prevented more of the Legion from being shot. They left one wounded young man to his fate and the body of another behind. They didn't stop until they reached Salina and had to listen to the jeers and taunts of Black Hawk and his men that night. Allred was relieved of command and Colonel Warren S. Snow was appointed to take over during the emergency.

Too afraid to go back to the canyon to retrieve the bodies, Snow persuaded Sanpitch, a Sanpete Valley Chief to scout Salina Canyon for them so the settlers could retrieve the bodies of the two young men. When Sanpitch returned with word that Black Hawk had gone over the pass into Castle Valley, the Legion returned to the canyon and brought back the dead: Jens Sorenson who had been terribly mutilated, and William Kearnes, the son of the Mormon bishop of Gunnison, who had been carefully protected. They also came back convinced that Sanpitch had met with Black Hawk and sent him over the pass, implying that Chief Sanpitch was the architect of the whole affair.

The Bear River Massacre[edit]

The massacre at Bear River occurred January 29, 1863. Though it was not actually a part of the Black Hawk War, it may have influenced the natives living in other parts of Utah where the Black Hawk War did occur. Five hundred thirty-one Shoshone were slain by the U.S. Army under the command of Colonel Patrick Edward Connor—among them, old men, 90 women and children. After the slaughter ended, soldiers went through the Indian village raping women and using axes to bash in the heads of women and children who were already dying of wounds. Chief Bear Hunter and sub-Chief Lehi both were killed. The troops burned 75 Indian lodges, took possession of 1,000 bushels of wheat and flour, and 175 Shoshone horses. While the troops cared for their wounded and took their dead back to Camp Douglas in Salt Lake City for burial, hundreds of Indians' bodies were left on the field for the wolves and crows for nearly two years. Brigham Young obliged the federal government's request by supplying Connor with cavalry troops from the Utah Militia. Although the Mormon settlers in Cache Valley expressed their gratitude for 'the movement of Col. Connor as an intervention of the Almighty' in their behalf, the Bear River Massacre has also been brushed aside in the history of Utah, and all blame placed on Connor.^[13]

Treaty of Spanish Fork[edit]

Brigham Young took a personal interest in settling what was perceived as a squabble between Sanpete Valley's settlers and resident Utes. In June 1865 he called all of the old-guard chiefs that he had negotiated with in previous Ute/Mormon conflicts to meet at Spanish Fork's Indian Farm to figure out a peace settlement. Sowiette, the aging chief of the Northern Utes, Tabby from the Uintah Utes, Antero (the namesake of Mount Antero) and Kanosh from the Pahvant Utes, Mountain, Black Hawk's brother, and Sow-ok-soo-bet agreed to meet the first week in June. Consequently, the chiefs accompanied by 500 Utes showed up to see what would happen next. Sanpitch came at the last minute. The superintendent of Indians for the territory read out the terms of the treaty which simply asked the Utes to sign away any and all lands in the territory except for the Uintah Basin, that all attacks on settlers, miners, and others cease warfare among themselves except in self-defense, and they were to turn in renegades who sought shelter among them. In return the US government promised to pay the tribe an annual payment of $25,000 for ten years, then $20,000 for twenty years, $15,000 for 30 years thereafter. They were promised $30,000 for unnamed improvements in the Uintah Basin and $10,000 for a vocational school. They were promised grist and sawmills, personal homes for signers of the treaty. The chiefs listened and then asked for a private meeting with Brigham Young.

Brigham Young met with them and urged them to accept the treaty as the best deal they could get. He saw it as a way to help the destitute Ute who were being pressed out of the landscape year after year with nothing to show for it. The chiefs then went to their tents to think about what had been said. The following morning the chiefs were asked for their views of the treaty. The older chiefs suggested that Brigham Young would not mislead them and encouraged the others to sign. Kanosh and Sanpitch simply refused to give up their land wanting to keep things as they had been for a long time. After additional consultations the chiefs, except for Sanpitch, agreed to the treaty and set their marks to the paper on June 8, 1865. Sanpitch remained in his tent, refusing to sign. The rest of the chiefs lined up to receive the obligatory presents from the superintendent and church leaders. Sanptich was persuaded to accept his presents but refused to put his name to the paper. The Ute chiefs were reminded it was their duty to turn in anyone who broke the peace and the assembly broke up. In the meantime, Black Hawk had attacked Thistle Valley, not ten miles from the location of the treaty negotiations.

It should also be noted that treaties made between the Utes and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints were never ratified by the US government, they were only agreements. Only the United States Government had the authority to make Treaties with the Native Peoples.

The Squaw Fight[edit]

The weeks following the Spanish Fork Treaty grew more tense each day as a string of isolated killings of white settlers and livestock thefts cost Sanpete Valley towns hundreds of cattle and horses. Orson Hyde, the local stake president in Sanpete Valley ordered up the militia to put an end to the raids. He ordered his militia to 'use the Indians roughly' in order to teach them a lesson. At the very same time Brigham Young traveled through the valley urging restraint despite the terrible losses. On July 14, 1865 word was received at Manti that two more men had been killed at Glenwood in Sevier Valley and over 300 head of cattle driven off. This could not be tolerated and once again the militia was called out by Brigham Young himself and ordered to bring the Indians responsible to justice. Under the leadership of Warren Snow the Legion marched to Glenwood under cover of darkness so they could surprise the raiders. They coerced Mountain, Black Hawk's brother, to be their guide in the dark. He slipped away and went directly to warn Black Hawk of the Legion's intentions. They followed an Indian who said he could lead them to Black Hawk. They made their way into Grass Valley on July 18. As they rested after a night march, a guard noticed a large grove of junipers that hid a Ute camp. Thinking them to be a small part of Black Hawk's band, 13 Ute men and boys resisted when surrounded by the 100 militiamen. After a four-hour fight, ten were killed, two escaped and a third captured. The rest of the encampment consisted of women, children and old people. Several women and children had been wounded or killed during the fight leaving several prisoners. When one of the captives attacked one of the men with her knife, he shot her dead. This sent the other women into a violent panic and the men simply shot them down. The whole incident was later referred to as the 'Squaw Fight'. The militia set about looting the camp of anything of value. Snow shouted them back into order threatening to arrest and court martial anyone who refused to follow his orders. Indian oral history paints a colder version, that most of those killed were shot down including women and children and feeble old people. One boy managed to escape saying that the camp had a paper from the Bishop at Salina stating that they were good Indians; the militia apparently had failed to ask to see their pass. The Squaw Fight was a grim precedent that would be repeated again and again.

The Navajo War[edit]

The Navajo War was not directly a part of the Black Hawk War, but it may have been a source of some of the native warriors who fought in the Black Hawk War. Black Hawk's success drew fighters from other Utes in Colorado, Apaches from New Mexico, and many Navajos. In the winter of 1866 Black Hawk and his band went to the Four Corners region where he received many new recruits. So many Navajos joined him that they formed almost half his raiders. The Navajo had been decimated by the U.S. Army under Kit Carson and forced out of their ancestral homeland. The remaining Navajos were eager for a chance to build up their herds at the expense of white settlers. Manuelito, the most important chief refusing to relocate to the Bosque Redondo Reservation, jointly led Black Hawk's raids on Mormon settlements in southern Utah during 1866. The attacks commenced at Pipe Springs, then a Mormon settlement on the Arizona-Utah border. The retaliation for the Pipe Springs raid left four unarmed Paiutes dead for murders they had nothing to do with. This brought some Paiute fighters to Black Hawk's band. Hopis hearing of the Navajo's movements feared they were to be attacked and struck first ambushing Manuelito's Navajos. The raids continued at the Paria settlements, and Kanab, who sent pleas for help against the raids. In subsequent years, the raids continued in the south by Navajos and Paiutes, which raised tensions to a fever pitch which would result in the worst massacre of the war at Circleville. Chief Kanosh predicted that in 1867 six thousand Navajos would wipe out the Mormon towns in southern Utah.

Manti Jailbreak[edit]

In attempting to stifle Ute resistance it was proposed that Ute leaders be taken into custody, in other words held hostage to prevent further raids and killings. Chief Sanpitch was arrested for threatening to attack Nephi and was confined with several others in the county courthouse in Manti. Once in chains Sanpitch agreed to help Warren Snow hunt down anyone with connections to Black Hawk. Upon Sanpitch's word Warren Snow captured several men who were said to have been with Black Hawk at one time, three were tried and executed in Manti. The rest of the Utes imprisoned in the courthouse had been permitted to visit with their wives and the fears of similar executions frightened the captives into planning an escape. The women smuggled a chisel and knives to their husbands. On the evening of March 20, 1867 five of the men made their escape. The guard managed to shoot two of the prisoners. The others were tracked down and shot dead. Those still in chains, including Sanpitch could only watch events unfold. The next day a woman and a little boy who were supposed to have aided the escapees were shot down outside Moroni, Utah. The remaining inmates decided to attempt an escape and got word to Black Hawk that they were going to attempt a second jail break. Women were still permitted visit and again smuggled knives and a file into the jail. The Utes managed to open their chains and hide it from the guards for several days. Kanosh asked for Sanpitch's release, but was refused. Black made a raid on Salina hoping to draw forces out of Manti, but Warren Snow believed the real attack would be in Sanpete Valley, so he doubled the guard on the courthouse in told his people to be prepared for a fight. Desperate to get away Sanpitch and the others made their escape the next night, April 14. One of the women managed to open the latched door, and the Utes slipped out of their shackles and into the night. The alarm was raised within minutes. Sanpitch was wounded by a random shot into the dark, but escaped. Manti was thrown into a panic as families barricaded themselves in their homes. Frightened men and boys hunted through the town looking for Utes, believing that Black Hawk himself might ride into town any minute. The Utes who were recaptured were shot down or had their throats cut. Sanpitch and four others managed to elude the searchers from Manti. They broke into a cabin and took food and blankets and headed into the foothills southwest of Fountain Green near Cedar Cliffs (now called Birch Creek), where they were spotted. On the second day the search party found Sanpitch, who had been unable to move faster because of his wound. He was killed on the spot by a local posse and buried at the base of a large rock. They tracked and shot or cut the throat of the other three escaped Utes. The mountain where Sanpitch was killed now bears his name.

Circleville Massacre[edit]

By 1866, Mormon and Indian confrontations were heated. Church officials ordered to have the Paiutes disarmed. Black Hawk and his band had killed many during the year before while defending their rights to their land. A determined camp of Paiutes remained in Circle Valley (Box Creek - now Circleville), trying to be friendly with the Mormons. However, the Mormons felt that they were in danger every moment, as some of the Natives were so aggressive that the Saints believed danger was imminent.

On April 21, 1866, an express from Fort Sanford reached Circleville, Utah telling of a Paiute who pretended to be friendly had shot and killed a white man belonging to the militia stationed at the nearby fort. The people of Circleville were told to protect themselves against the Indians who were camped in their valley. Upon receipt of this information, the people of Circleville called a town meeting. After much discussion, it was decided that they should arrest all the Paiutes that were camped nearby and bring them to Circleville for confinement. Every able-bodied man in the town set out to take custody of the Indian camp, and they surrounded the camp at night. James T. S. and Bishop William Jackson Allred went to the Indian camp and persuaded the Indians to come to a meeting at Circleville. They told the Indians that they had received a letter and they wanted to have it read to them. All of the Indians agreed willingly to go to Circleville with the men, except one young Indian warrior who refused to go and began to shoot at the posse. The posse returned fire, killing the young man. The rest of the Indians were then taken at gunpoint to Circleville and the letter was read to them. The Indians were told that they were to be retained as prisoners.

The Indians were taken into custody and placed in the meeting house that night under guard. The captured Indians, 26 in all, displayed much unrest. On the evening of the following day, some of the Indians were able to cut themselves loose from their bindings to escape. Guards shot and killed two Indians who were attempting an escape. The remaining imprisoned Indians were moved to an underground cellar. In a subsequent town meeting, the settlers decided to kill the remaining imprisoned Indians. The Indians were led out of the cellar, totaling 24 people, including men, women, and children. They were struck on the back of the head to stun them and then their throats were slit, leaving them to bleed to death. Two young boys and girl prisoner managed to escape before execution.

The following day, the three children were found in a nearby cave and taken by James Allred to Marysvale. Allred intended to sell or make a trade for the children. The little girl was killed by a violent bludgeoning. While the fate of one of the boys is unknown, the other Allred took to Spring City. There, Allred spoke with Peter Monson to offer the boy for sale. A deal was struck for a horse and bushel of wheat in exchange for the boy. The boy lived in a tool shed and was welcomed because he befriended Peter Monson's daughter who had been disfigured by burns to her face. Peter and Bertha Monson then adopted the boy and named him David Monson. He couldn't read or write other than being taught to sign his name. Most pronunciations of the name Monson came out as 'Munson' or 'Munsen'. David Married Laura Jensen and together they had 8 children. 4 daughters and 4 sons. He left his family and went to Wyoming looking for work as a sheep shearer and cutting railroad ties. He was known there locally as Indian Dave Monson and died while cutting railroad ties in 1925 and estimated as about 60 to 65 years old. He is buried at Saratoga, WY. Davids' oldest son (also named) David Leonial Monson had two sons. The oldest (also being named) David Peter was, until his death in 2017 at age 90, the oldest living member of the Koosharem Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe. Indian Dave Monsons second oldest son (Arthur LeRoy) was erroneously named Munsen on his headstone after being killed in a coal mining accident.

Scipio Raid and the Battle of Gravelly Ford[edit]

By June 1866 the threat against the Sanpete and Sevier settlements had grown with the telling. Black Hawk had threatened to bring enough men to destroy Manti and Warren Snow that year. 125 additional militia were sent south from Salt Lake to prevent such an attack. Black Hawk shifted his focus to Scipio upon being told of the show of strength in Sanpete Valley. Scipio illustrates the sometime personal nature of the attacks during the war. It was the home of the James Russell Ivie family. Richard Ivie (a son of James Russell Ivie) had been responsible for hostilities in the Fort Utah war when he murdered a Ute called Old Bishop and sank his weighted body in the Provo River. Another son, James Alexander Ivie, was blamed for starting the Walker War when he hit a Ute over the head with his gun and participating in the Tintic war which resulted in the death of Black Hawk's friend Squash Head and the wounding of Chief Tintic. A band of 100 Utes and allies began herding together 350 head of cattle from pastures near Scipio. They killed a 14-year-old herd boy and shot the elderly James Russell Ivie full of arrows and stripped him of everything except his boots. Gathering up 75 horses the Utes and their allies moved the herd through Scipio Gap into Sevier Valley. Scipio's men charged out after the herd, but were forced back when the Black Hawk's rear guard moved to attack the town which had been left virtually undefended. The Utes withdrew moving toward Salina Canyon with the largest single capture of livestock in the conflict.

The Scipio settlers sent runners to Gunnison and Fillmore to get help. William Pace of the Nauvoo Legion gathered up 20 men hoping to catch Black Hawk before he could make his escape. They left Gunnison and marched through the night to reach Salina before the herd could be driven away. He could see the herd head for Gravelly ford on the Sevier River and rode there to stop the Utes from stealing the cattle and horses. Upon approaching the ford he found about 60 Utes guarding the ford. He sent for help from Richfield and tried to delay the fording of the herd with a prolonged gun fight. Realizing he could not sustain the attack, he ordered his men to pull back out of range. Several Utes tried to force them farther back from the ford by charging the nearly defenseless militia. Black Hawk himself and his chief lieutenant, Tamaritz, were two of these men. Black Hawk's horse was shot from under him and then he was hit in the stomach. Tamaritz, too, had been wounded. Minutes later the Gunnison militia, out of ammunition took to their heels. The Utes drove the herd across the river toward Salina Canyon just as the Richfield militia arrived on horseback to see the herd nearing the mouth of Salina Canyon and the Gunnison militia riding for home. The wounding of Black and Tamaritz eventually brought an end to the Black Hawk War and Black Hawk himself just four years later. In the interim several other sub chiefs took over including Black Hawk's brother, Mountain, Issac Potter and Richard James.

The attack on Scipio had two immediate consequences. Mormons who had since the beginning of the conflict been ordered to 'fort up' had resisted the order since the fighting was most often confined to Sanpete and Sevier Valleys. Scipio's failure to fort up was used as a bad example by LDS church leaders in their renewed call for forts to be built in larger towns and smaller outlying towns were to be abandoned until hostilities came to a halt. These temporary forts were often haphazardly built, but they would do against the lightly armed Utes and allies who were attacking white settlements.

The second involved the Ivie family again. James Ivie, the son of the elder Ivie murdered at Scipio, was crazy for revenge against the Utes. An old Pahavnt Ute medicine man by the name of Panikary made the mistake of visiting Scipio begging for food. He was known as a 'good Indian' with a peaceful disposition. Bishop Thomas Callister of Fillmore who happened to be in Scipio, advised Panikary to leave town because the Ivie's blood was up and there might be trouble. Panikary took the presents of food offered and headed toward Fillmore. Upon returning from the futile pursuit of Black Hawk, the younger James Ivie, hearing that a Ute had been in Scipio just hours before raced after Panikary and murdered him on the spot. The bishop of Scipio had ridden hard to stop Ivie but failed to prevent the killing. Callister was disgusted by the murder and rode directly to Chief Kanosh's camp to inform him of the incident. Up to that point the Pahavant Ute had not been openly involved in the fighting. Kanosh thanked Callister for being honest, but the war chief, Moshoquop and 27 warriors followed Callister to his home in Fillmore angrily demanding justice. Callister convinced the Utes that Brigham Young would be a fairer judge. The Utes agreed and rode away. Later Ivie was arrested and tried for murder by an all-Mormon judge and jury and was acquitted when it was suggested that Panikary was really a spy for Black Hawk. Bishop Callister was so upset by the outcome that he excommunicated Ivie from the church.

Battles of Thistle Valley and Diamond Fork[edit]

June 1866 brought the Uintah Utes into the conflict. Up until that time a few hot-headed young fighters joined Black Hawk but Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah (Tabby)and others had kept the Utes in the Uintah Valley reservation out of the war. The call for an additional 350 men from Salt Lake and Davis Counties to strengthen Mormon settlements angered Tabby and his fighters. But Black Hawk's brother, Mountain, Isaac Potter and Richard led separate war parties toward Utah Valley. They found a Nauvoo Legion detachment at what is now Indianola and attacked. The pinned the militia down for most of the day, but a second detachment under John L. Ivie arrived late and kept the first detachment from being overwhelmed. The soldiers were convinced that Chief Tabby had led the attack. When and additional 130 men under Warren Snow arrived, it was agreed to chase the Utes up Spanish Fork Canyon. Fearing another Salina Canyon disaster, the troops moved cautiously but on arriving at Soldier Summit Pass found that the Utes had split up and gone in different directions. He turned his men around and marched them back to Sanpete Valley.

Mountain had led his men to Spanish Fork to exact vengeance on William Berry who years before had beaten Black Hawk with an old bucket for a supposed theft. They killed Berry and drove off about forty cattle and horses and fled into the Wasatch Mountains through Maple Canyon. The militia, who were already on alert, gave chase. They intercepted the Utes at Diamond Fork River but were outnumbered and pinned down by desultory rifle shots and arrows. A second force of eight men rushed the Utes and three were shot dead. The others put the Utes in a crossfire. The Utes quietly withdrew leaving the livestock and camp to be plundered by the militia. Among the gear they found US issued items, which showed the Utes had been accepting food and supplies at the Uintah Reservation. Leaders of the militia swore affidavits that white men had been seen directing the Utes. It was feared that the US Indian officials were aiding and abetting the Utes in their war against the Mormons.

These incidents were a turning point in the war. Mormons had begun to be vigilant as Brigham Young had repeatedly encouraged them to do. Fort building and evacuations of small settlements, combining livestock herds under guard, and the hundreds of additional soldiers patrolling commonly used canyon trails stymied the ability of Utes to drive off the numbers of cattle and horses of the first two years in the war. Tabby used his influence after the defeat of the reservation Utes to keep most of his people out of the conflict. It would not be until 1872 in the final days of the war that reservation Utes caused any more trouble. The 'defeat' of the reservation Utes encouraged Mormons to continue to prevent attacks whenever possible.

Black Hawk's Last Raid[edit]

In the spring of 1867 hundreds of Nauvoo Legion militia from northern Utah flooded into central Utah determined to maintain the strict vigilance on settlements and their livestock, and patrol routes known to be used by Utes and their allies. There were several isolated attacks, one of which was planned to capture and kill Warren Snow, which was narrowly averted. Dozens of ranches and settlements were closed and more and more settlers moved to towns with forts for protection. With such a military presence in central Utah, Black Hawk moved his forces south and planned a raid on Parowan in Iron County, which until that time had not suffered anything but anxiety. By July 21, 1867 a large herd of 700 cattle and horses that had been gathered and placed under guard seemed to be the main target, but other raiders began to round up scattered livestock near Paragonah when they were seen by guards and the alarm was raised. The Utes were chased into a canyon where the Utes were eventually forced to leave their horses behind in order to escape in the steep terrain. Black Hawk retreated recognizing that it would be impossible to get any stolen livestock over the high plateaus above Cedar City and Parowan.

Black Hawk had never fully recovered from his wound at Gravelly Ford the previous year. He also had tuberculosis and his health was failing. Two weeks later in August Black Hawk and a small band of followers rode into the Uintah Reservation and announced to the agent there that he was ready to talk peace with the whites.

Death of Isaac Potter[edit]

Isaac Potter was a white man, a former Mormon with several wives in Utah County who had turned outlaw. He became one of the principal brokers in the sale of Black Hawk's stolen cattle. Reports of white men leading Ute raids were common and Ike Potter was the most notorious of them. In late June 1867 Ike Potter and a band of Utes and allies sent a demand for beef and other supplies to William W. Cluff, a Mormon Bishop at Coalville in Washington County. The demand was rejected and Potter responded that Black Hawk would come down and wipe out the Mormons. A raid on a sawmill brought out the militia, which accidentally learned where Potter and his men were camped. They surrounded the camp and arrested Potter, two other whites, 16 Utes and Navajos on the charge of stealing one cow. They were marched back to Coalville to stand trial. The Mormons were afraid that Potter would be freed by a 'gentile' judge and decided to take matters into their own hands. The three white men tried to escape on the night of August 1, while 'attacking' his guards Potter was shot and his throat cut, a second made it as far as the Virgin River where he was shot multiple times, the third escaped wounded.

Negotiations[edit]

With Black and his family at the Uintah Reservation willing to negotiate, the US government finally stepped into its own. Superintendent Franklin Head rode to the Uintah Agency to work out a peace agreement that would bring hostilities to an end. He found all of the chief s of the Northern Utes already gathered ready to talk. By mid-September the government had everything it wanted from Black Hawk. Not only would he stop raiding, he promised to use his influence to persuade Tamawitz and others to come to the Uintah Agency and stop harassing whites. Black Hawk explained that it wasn't his band that caused all the trouble blaming Elk Mountain Utes for the trouble.

The spring of 1868 began as a hopeful one for displaced Mormon settlers. They clamored to return to their homes, farms, ranches, and towns. The very first wagon train to take back the Sevier Valley settlements was attacked by Tamaritz and a small force. The resettlement was postponed for at least a year. There were a few attacks on individuals and isolated thefts, but the Mormon vigilance policy prevented Ute success. Black Hawk sent messages to leaders either once under him or allied with him to come in and negotiate with the government. His treatment was a positive example and one or two raiders made their way to the Uintah Reservation. Tamaritz and his band surrendered in August.

Negotiations between local Utes and settlement leaders took place all through the summer. Tabby met with leaders in Heber City, Orson Hyde met with Sowiette, Toquana in Nephi, Indian agent Dimick Huntington met with Ute in the Strawberry Valley, and Hamilton Kearnes met with Ute at Salina to smoke a peace pipe and give presents. Elk Mountain chiefs met with Superintendent Head and the fighting seemed to be coming to a swift conclusion. In the minds of Mormon settlers and territorial officials the war was over. Subsequent isolated incidents between settlers and Native peoples in central and southern Utah, though not directly connected to the Black Hawk War, are included by modern historians extending dates of the war from 1868 until the forced relocation of all Utes to the Uintah Agency in eastern Utah in 1872.

Ghost Dance[edit]

As chief after chief gave up hostilities tensions slackened in 1869. There were reports of murdered Utes who happened to be in the wrong place when accosted by whites bent on vengeance. For example Ute girl raised in a Mormon family in Fairview was found with her throat cut. There were sporadic raids where a few horses were taken or a cow slaughtered by unknown parties. The Uintah Reservation was not a peaceful place, Ute from many bands were forced to live in close proximity which caused problems and the younger fighters wanted to be out raiding, but held in check by their leaders.

1870 brought an early version of the Ghost Dance to Utah. The main beliefs came from Nevada Paiutes who taught that there was a way to bring back the ancestors, those who had died long ago and the recently deceased. Those who wished to participate needed to go the a great meeting and those who refused would get sick and die. Thousands of Northern Utes, Shoshones, and Bannocks met near Soda Springs, Idaho for the vision to occur. The gathering alarmed both territorial officials and federal appointees who feared that the meeting might be the start of a great confederation to drive out whites from the valleys. Ute chiefs assured the superintendent that the meeting was religious in nature and not intended as the threat to anyone. The event occurred without incident and everyone returned to their homes.

The Black Hawk War Original

1871 brought a new governor to Utah Territory who had pledged that after him, governors, not Brigham Young, would govern in Utah. One of his first acts was to disband the Nauvoo Legion, Utah's territorial militia. Musters and drills were forbidden and officers decommissioned while hundreds of additional troops were moved to Fort Douglas overlooking Salt Lake City. Brigham Young and Daniel Wells were arrested for cohabitation. The Nauvoo Legion refused at first to comply and things came to a head at the 4th of July Parade in 1871 where the Legion had always marched. The post commander at Fort Douglas was prepared to use force to prevent the militia from marching. The Legion blinked first and the confrontation ended. Emboldened, Governor Schaffer went on to prohibit any group of armed men from going out to recover stock without written permission. The letter that were forwarded to him went unanswered and the only recourse was to ask for troops from Fort Douglas to intervene. This left settlers without any real protection from the occasional thefts and threats which arose in outlying areas. This set the stage for the final act of Utah's Black Hawk War.

The Northern Utes had agreed to host the Ghost Dance meeting and the site chosen by a vision was near Fountain Green in Sanpete Valley. By May of that year and estimated 2,000 Utes had gathered there. Another 2,000 Shoshones under Chief Washakie were already in transit, rumor had it that thousands of Sioux, Cheyenne and other eastern tribes were expected as well. All were awaiting the appearance of the Voice of the West, a Paiute prophet who would 'foretell the future of Indians in America'. Such a large gathering alarmed the Sanpete residents who feared that the Utes would retaliate for the killings in the Black Hawk War. Federal officials believed that somehow Brigham Young had orchestrated the meeting to get control of Native People. Voice of the West did not appear, so Indians settled down to wait. Residents of the towns were soon besieged with requests for food and presents. Leaders soon wrote to the governor complaining that men were compelled to go about town armed day and night to protect themselves and their property. The federal officials were afraid that troops might spark trouble and did nothing. White traders soon found a ready market for whiskey and ammunition. By June the Shiberetch Utes declared it was time to make war on the Mormons and invited anyone to join them in Grass Valley in the mountains east of Sanpete Valley. They killed a herdboy as they made their way through and out of the valley. Stock raids immediately commenced in Sanpete and Sevier Valleys. Realizing that Mormon authorities were powerless to help, residents appealed directly for help from the commandant at Fort Douglas, an unprecedented step in Indian affairs. Utes were attacked in response to the killings.

Alarmed at the sudden outbreak of hostilities, Daniel Well appealed to General Morrow for assistance in quelling the new uprising fearing that the limited conflict could quickly spin out of control. Morrow agreed and promptly called up 500 former Nauvoo Legion militiamen to march south to disperse the Ghost Dance. As a result a massacre was avoided, and the various groups of Indians gathered for the Ghost Dance ceremony were dispersed. The Utes were ordered to return to the Uintah Reservation. Two more Mormons were murdered that year. The Northern Ute resistance was ended when federal troops were deployed to keep Utes on the Uintah Reservation. The Black War in Utah had ended.

Outcomes[edit]

Utah's Black Hawk War had far-reaching and unforeseen outcomes for Mormons and Utes alike. After 1872 Mormons in Utah were able to expand settlements as immigrants swelled valley populations without the threat of Ute resistance. The chasing of Ute raiders through unexplored regions of Utah actually helped explore areas for new settlements as outliers of the larger towns. Ranchers were free to take up land far from population centers without fear of being attacked. Mormons came to accept the army as a force that could do its job without threatening local autonomy. Communities became more independent as they realized that local decisions were often better tailored to suit local conditions than requesting advice from Salt Lake. Mormons were less able to control the functions of government as federal officials began their long crusade to end polygamy and Mormon control of government and the economy.

Black Hawk's War was a disaster for the Northern Utes. They were forced permanently onto the Uintah Reservation to live dependent on corrupt government agents. No promises made in any treaty were fulfilled completely. Terms of treaties which restricted the Utes were rigidly enforced, but promises in the treaty which territorial officials and Mormon leaders put their names to were largely ignored. Intra-tribal divisions arose which persisted to modern times. The Ute were forced to give up their traditional way of life and left to fend for themselves in one of the least habitable parts of Utah. Disease, living conditions, hopelessness, alcoholism, and poverty reduced Ute populations drastically. While it is difficult to estimate moving populations, Dimick Huntington, an interpreter for the territorial government, estimated that there were perhaps 23,000 Native Americans in Utah in 1865. In 1872 he estimated the number at 10,000. While these numbers seem exaggerated to modern historians, it indicates that the period took a terrible toll on the Utes. Not everyone in those estimates died, many simply moved out of the territory, but the number of deaths by disease, starvation, and the war was catastrophic for Northern Utes. Ute population continued the steep decline, so that as of this writing (2008) there are 3,120 Northern Utes enrolled, up from 2500 in 1980.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^The Black Hawk War in Utah, by Phillip B. GottfredsonArchived April 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
2. ^41st Congress, House of Representatives. Mis. Do. 1st Session. No. 10. Memorial of the Legislative Assembly of Utah Territory, For an appropriation to pay for Indian depredations and expenses incurred in suppressing Indian hostilities.
3. ^'Utah History of the Black Hawk War'. Official Web Site for the State of Utah. Retrieved March 20, 2008. Originally from: John A. Peterson (1994). 'Black Hawk War'. Utah History Encyclopedia. University of Utah Press. Retrieved 2015-08-31.
4. ^Martin, James R. 'How can you buy or sell the earth?'. Management and Accounting Web. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
5. ^Sanpete County Commissioners (1982). 'Indian Encounters'. In Antrei, Albert C.T. (ed.). The Other Forty-Niners: A topical history of Sanpete County Utah 1849–1983. Ruth D. Scow. Salt Lake City, Utah: Western Epics. pp. 127–148. ISBN0-914740-26-1.
6. ^Lowry, Walker (1974). Wallace Lowry (1st ed.). Lunenburg, Vermont: Stinehour Press. p. 51.
7. ^ ^abGottfredson, Peter (30 September 2002) [1919]. Indian Depredations in Utah. Fenestra Books. pp. 323–335. ISBN1587361272.
8. ^Mciff, Rose (1970). 'Weep Not for Me Mother'(PDF). Saga of the Sanpitch. 2. Snow College & University of Utah: Sanpete Historical Writing Committee. p. 18.
9. ^STATEMENT, M. S. MARTENAS, INTERPRETER Great Salt Lake City, July 6, 1853 Brigham Young Papers, MS 1234, Box 58, Folder 14 LDS Archives - Will Bagley Transcription.
10. ^Olsen, John K. (1979). 'What did Walker Want?'(PDF). Saga of the Sanpitch. 11. Snow College & University of Utah: Sanpete Historical Writing Committee. p. 17.
11. ^Sonne, Conway Ballantyne (1962). World of Walkara. San Antonio, Texas: Naylor Co. pp. 161–205.
12. ^Phillip B. Gottfredson. 'Facts Concerning the Utah Black Hawk War'. lack Hawk War Productions. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
13. ^- John Alton Peterson Utah's Black Hawk War - Rod Miller's Massacre at Bear River

References[edit]

• Culmsee, Carlton Fordis (1973). Utah's Black Hawk War: lore and reminiscences of participants. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. ISBN0-87421-060-7. LCCN73082365.
• Gottfredson, Peter, ed. (1919). History of Indian Depredations in Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah: Fenestra Books. ISBN1-58736-127-2. (Scanned copy from Harvard College Library available from Google Books)
• Peterson, John Alton (1998). Utah's Blackhawk War. University of Utah Press. ISBN0-87480-583-X.
• Sanpete County Commissioners (1982). Antrei, Albert C.T.; Scow, Ruth D. (eds.). The Other Forty-Niners: A topical history of Sanpete County Utah 1849–1983. Salt Lake City, Utah: Western Epics. ISBN0-914740-26-1.
• Utah Indian War Records; MSS SC 2234; 20th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts; L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.